Six players from Nevada baseball’s last championship team remain on the Wolf Pack’s roster today.

Pitchers Mark Nowaczewski, Austin Dick and Cooper Powell and position players Grant Fennell, Cole Krzmarzick and Keaton Smith were each a part of Nevada's 2015 title, the school’s first in any sport in the Mountain West. And while those players are proud of their time on that team, it’s not like they wear their championship rings around. Each would admit he was a small part of the championship.

Nowaczewski, Dick, Powell and Smith all redshirted in 2015. Krzmarzick got just 20 at-bats in 14 games. And while Fennell played the most – 78 at-bats in 31 games – he wasn’t exactly a key cog.

“Freshman year, I didn’t feel like I was a big part of it,” said Fennell, who has started all but three games this season. “It’s so much better this year because I am a senior and I am playing a lot.”

The seniors in that group hope to cap their careers with another title, this one as more plentiful contributors. The requirement to accomplish that goal is simple. All Nevada must do to earn the outright MW title is win one of its final three games, each coming against second-place San Diego State, which trails Nevada by 1.5 games heading into the final regular-season series, which starts Thursday at 6 p.m. at Peccole Park

“These guys have earned it,” Nevada coach T.J. Bruce said. “They’ve worked their butts off, they’ve play hard, they’ve earned everything they’re getting this weekend. I’m looking forward to sitting back and watching them play. I let these guys play and I have the best seat in the house, so I’m looking forward to it.”

Nevada has rebounded from a 19-36 record last season to move to the top of the MW this year. The Wolf Pack (27-21, 18-8 MW) has been led by many of the players from that 2015 team.

Fennell leads Nevada with a .391 average and 43 RBIs; Krzmarzick is third on the team with a .345 average; and Smith has played in 37 games. Nowaczewski (5-4, 4.59 ERA) is the team’s Friday starter, and Dick (1-1, 3.18) and Cooper (2-5, 5.90) have soaked up valuable relief innings. While Bruce was hired after the 2015 season and did not recruit any of those players, he values this year’s senior class.

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Meet the youngest member of the Nevada baseball team, 4 year old Jaxon Bruce.
Jason Bean, RGJ

“They’ve been great,” Bruce said. “Most of these guys were here when I took over and they’ve meant so much to the program, watching them grow and become leaders. When I first got here, a lot of them were sophomores … young guys trying to figure out who they were as people and players. Watching them three years later, they’ve grown into terrific young men and tremendous competitors.”

Fennell said the upperclassmen have taken a more active leadership role this season after the disastrous 2017 campaign. While many of the upperclassmen aren’t overly vocal by nature, they’ve been more hands on guiding the team, demanding accountability and having tough conversations when necessary.

“Coach Bruce always says, ‘We need leadership,’ and we took it and ran with it,” Fennell said. “It just comes with being able to lead the younger guys. We didn’t do a good job of doing that last year and this year we’ve been more willing to lead. It’s not the easiest thing. It’s hard to tell another peer to do something even if you’re four years older than them, but it’s what we needed, and they’ve all listened.”

The Wolf Pack’s bats also have perked up this season. After hitting .275 and averaging just 4.8 runs per game in 2017, those numbers have increased to .294 and 6.5, respectively, this season. Nevada also has shaved its runs allowed per game from 6.7 to 5.5. After simply fighting for a spot in the MW Tournament in the regular-season finale last year, the team is now playing for a title.

“The greatest thrill for me now is seeing these guys in this position where they’re at because of the buy-in to the program and the buy-in to themselves," Bruce said. "These guys have it and we’ve told them in September that they have that ‘it,’ and I’m looking forward to riding the wave with them. It’s going to be fun.”

Cole Krzmarzick is one of six holdovers from the 2015 championship team trying to bookend his career with a second title.(Photo: Jason Bean/RGJ file)

Thanks to the MW’s unbalanced schedule, Nevada and SDSU (35-17, 17-10) haven’t played this season. The Aztecs took four of six games against the Wolf Pack last year, but largely have a new cast of key players. While Nevada has more margin for error entering this series, it doesn’t want to play that way.

“We just have to come out Thursday and win,” said Fennell, who is from San Diego. “No holding back. We can’t wait until Saturday or until Friday. We just have to punch them in the mouth right away.”

While a MW regular-season title won’t put Nevada into an NCAA Regional, the Wolf Pack players said doing well this week heading into next week's conference tournament, where the winner gets a Regional at-large bid, is important.

“The main thing is to get momentum going into the tournament,” Krzmarzick said. “Every team in our conference is pretty even. There’s no team that’s going to pound each other. I don’t think it matters who we play, but playing well at the time is big. The big thing for me is momentum. Our goal is to win three and not just win one. We want to play well this week and not think, ‘We just need one win.’”

And although the ultimate aspiration at the start of the season was getting to a Regional for the first time since 2000, winning a conference championship also was on the list of goals.

Keone Cabinian, a senior who has blossomed into Nevada’s closer this season, said he’s had visions of getting the final out to clinch the MW title. His goal this week is to be able to experience that feeling.

“It would be great,” said Cabinian, a junior-college transfers who joined Nevada in 2016. “I’m not going to lie, I’ve replayed that situation in my head. I’d love to be that guy to be out on the field and close the game out. It’d definitely be a great memory, but all and all it’s about getting that win.”

Columnist Chris Murray provides insight on Northern Nevada sports. Contact him at cmurray@rgj.com or follow him on Twitter @MurrayRGJ.